In an attempt to spruce up its site, MySpace has launched a digital music service that will give users free access to hundreds of thousands of songs from big record labels. However, users can only listen to the music from personal computers and will have to deal with splash advertisements. People who want to transfer music to iPods or MP3 devices will have to purchase the songs through Amazon.com Inc.’s downloading service. MySpace will differentiate its digital service from Apple’s iTunes by offering unlimited music streaming, allowing multiple playlists containing up to 100 songs each. MySpace is starting with several hundred thousand songs, but expects to surpass the size of Apple’s iTunes store, which stocks 8.5 million songs. Universal Music, Sony BMG and Warner Music have signed up as partners in this joint venture. The digital music service launch is yet another tactic to increase revenue for MySpace, which was bought by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. for $580 million in 2005. –j.h.
